1/72 Revell F-117A Nighthawk

Gallery Article by Deun Yu on Nov 1 2003

 

This F-117 really lives twice! The first time I just glued the few pieces together and applied the decals - that's long ago. But then in summer 2001 I decided to rebuild this model simultaneously to a F-16 I was building at that time. So I carefully dismantled the parts and began constructing this model the second time.

There wasn't much to do in the cockpit area, I just painted it black. As you can hardly see the interior once the fuselage halves are glued together the indication of a HUD was the only detail I added to the cockpit. This time I did not insert the pilot figure.

The trailing edge of the platypus-exhausts were carved with the knife to divide them into tiles. The exhausts were painted grey (slightly weathered) with a metallic edge. The cockpit and the green-yellow tinted clear part were glued on the upper fuselage half.

After that construction went on even quicker. The fuselage was completed by joining the wings and the stabilizers. This time I wanted the weapons bay in closed position. As the kits doors are supposed to be open I had to cut them off their suspensions. Unfortunately in closed position they are slightly too long to fit properly. So I had to cut them, following the zigzag-stealth-pattern of the edge.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Then it was time for painting. I had decided to try a flat black paint that I normally use for painting tyres. I had chosen it because it is really, really flat - in my opinion most F-117 models appear too shiny, too gloss. The grills of the several air in- and outlets were painted semi-gloss.

The small decal sheet offered two versions, the 37th TFW during Desert Storm and the 49th FW (all F-117 are 49th since 1992). The ones for the 37th had been used the first time I build the model, so this time I simply used the other ones. They look almost identical anyway.

Since this is not a very complex kit it was easy to build. There's just a little fit problem between fuselage and wings which requires putty.

I don't regret having build this model again cause I'm quite pleased with the result. Hope you like it as much!

Deun Yu

      

Photos and text © by Deun Yu